Pointing mechanism for guns



ug- 25, 1931- E. MULLER POINTING MECHANSM FOR GUNS Filed July l5, 1930 Patented Aug. 25, 1931 UNITED STATES EDUARD MLLER, or' DUssELnoEE, GERMAivYgAssr-GNQR To RHErNrsoHE METALL- WAAREN- UND MASCHINENFABRK, OF

CORPORATION OF GERMANY nUssELnoEr-DE'RENDOEE, GERMANY, .a

POINTING TJIEGHAN"GUNS i Application led July 15, 1930, Serial No. 468,149, and in Germany August 16, 1929.

The present invention relates to a pointing mechanism for guns, especially for naval guns having their range of aim limited by danger zones.

5, At times guns, especially naval guns, cannot be so freely pointed that they can be fired at any elevation and lateral angle, since surrounding structures do not permit of firing the gun in certain positions. The pointing of such guns has heretofore been limited in such danger Zones by abutments or stops, which comprise structurally, either as fixed stops or movable abutments controlled by cam guides, a model of the outline of the interfering structures. But when the gun barrel, in swinging laterally, strikes against such an abutment, it is arrested and the barrel must then be elevated by the vertical pointing mechanism before it can be swung further around.

In accordance with the present invention, the elevating pointing mechanism is positively connected to operate with the lateral pointing mechanism, when th-e gun barrel is swung to the limiting angles of the danger Zones, so that the barrel mouth is automatically raised as far as the interfering structures render necessary. The lateral swinging of the gun, in following the target, is, therefore, not interrupted by the dangefi` zones and does not need to be accompanied by a separate operation of the gun elevating mechanism.

The drawing illustrates an embodiment of the invention applied to the gun of a ship.

The barrel a is mounted by means of its trunnions g in the turret b, which is rotatable in the fixed base member c around the vertical aXis www. Around the member c is the iixed cam track l having the shape of the outlines of the structures in the vicinity of the gun. A rack e, vertically guided on the turret b, is provided at its lower end with a roller f, running on the cam track d. The

rack is engaged by a pinion c, which is keyed on the driving shaft of the gun elevating mechanism. The rotation of this shaft by the hand-wheels L vor 71, is transmitted through the bevel gears Z, the self-locking worm-gearing m and n, and the pinion 0, in

mesh with the segment p of the turret, to the gun barrel. The operation is as follows:

The gun elevated by turning the handwheels L or L, whereby, at the same time, th-e rack e, slidably mounted on the turret b, is moved in the same direction, i. e., is raised when the barrel mouth is swung upwardly and is lowered when the barrel 1s moved downwardly. The maximum degree of any lowering, which can be imparted to the barrel in its various lateral positions within the range of perhaps 360, is determined by the engagement of the rack roller f with the cam track d.

If, at the beginning of a lateral swinging movement of the gun barrel about its vertical axis :va-x, the roller f rests on the cam track or comes into contact with the same in the course of the said movement, then the rack e and, through the transmission gearing m, n, 0 and p, also the barrel, are so elevatedV that the barrel mouth and the direction of the shot will always be maintined outside the zones, which it would otherwise endanger and, therefore, must not traverse. The elevation of the barrel, accordingly, takes place automatically in dependence upon the swinging of the barrel towards said Zones.

By suitably selecting the ratios between pinion 7c and rack e and the transmission gearing m, n, 0 and p of the elevating mechanism, the vertical dimensions of the cam track Z and the travel of the rack e can be kept small, and also, by an oblique arrangement of the several inclines of the cam track, the power required to actuate the lateral pointing mechanism, not shown,-whether it be manual or motor-driven-sufiices to also impart the required elevation adjustments.

I claim as my invention:

1. Pointing mechanism for turret guns, comprising a iXed cam track having the shape of the outline of the danger zones to be avoided; a rack slidably mounted on the turret of the gun and coacting with the track; and means for elevating the barrel of the gun cooperatingwith the rack and track for automatically raising the barrel by means of said rack to avoid the danger 1 zones when the gun is Vmoved laterally.

EDUARD MLLER. 

